


homebound

by noyabeans (snowdrops)



Series: writing with snowdrops (timeskip arc) [10]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Bickering, Canon Compliant, M/M, Missing Scene, Shippy Gen, Spoilers, implied pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:07:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25442869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowdrops/pseuds/noyabeans
Summary: The night before Yaku's return, Kuroo gets a phone call.Contains spoilers for the final chapter of Haikyuu.
Relationships: Kuroo Tetsurou & Yaku Morisuke, Kuroo Tetsurou/Yaku Morisuke
Series: writing with snowdrops (timeskip arc) [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1608889
Comments: 10
Kudos: 158





	homebound

Close to midnight, Kuroo’s phone rings. As he pulls open his drawer to retrieve it, he runs a mental checklist of ongoing JVA publicity campaigns and prays it’s not a social media crisis which needs his immediate attention and all-nighters for the next week. Not this week, of all weeks.

A big smiling icon fills up the screen, and his heart leaps out of its chest. He swipes the answer button.

“Hello, Yakkun,” he greets with his best faux newscaster voice. “How may I help you?”

He’s rewarded by the sound of Yaku’s soft huff of amusement. “Sorry for calling at this hour. I’m at the airport now.”

“Oh,” Kuroo says, quickly making the time conversion in his head. “Isn’t that a little early? Doesn’t your flight only leave in four hours?”

“You were keeping track,” Yaku says, and Kuroo can hear the laugh in his voice even through the background bustle. “Evening traffic here is awful, I didn’t want to miss the flight because of congestion.”

“Fair,” Kuroo says, deciding it’ll be futile to attempt any more work and clicking his laptop shut. Crossing the small distance from his work desk to settle down on his bed, his eyes fall on the photo frame sitting on his bedside table. It’s almost time for it to be replaced. “Excited to come back?”

“Of course,” Yaku says. “Winter always makes me miss eating oden. It’s hard to come by here, and nothing matches up to FamilyMart’s.”

“So it’s convenience store oden that you miss?” Kuroo asks, feigning hurt. “Not, you know, being able to see your wonderful high school team?” 

“Huh, I wonder,” Yaku says, and Kuroo can almost picture him leaning back against the hard plastic seats of the airport, suitcase between his legs, cocking his head with a smile on his lips. “I mean, technology’s so advanced now, but I still can’t eat oden unless I’m there in person.” 

“At least play along!” Kuroo complains. “Fine, I’ll tell the guys to get some oden for you.”

Yaku chuckles, the sound warm even over the phone and making its home in Kuroo’s chest. “Aren't we having hotpot, anyway? But thanks, captain.”

“I’m not your captain anymore,” Kuroo mutters. 

“If we’re talking Nekoma, you’re always gonna be my captain,” Yaku says, so easily that whatever Kuroo had been thinking flies right out of his head. These startling moments of honesty are but one of the many ways Yaku has changed in his time away, just like the way his social media posts are now written in three different languages — English, Russian, and Japanese — and the confidence with which he carries himself during player feature interviews. Sometimes, watching those interviews, Kuroo himself can’t quite believe that the Yaku in his laptop screen is the same Yaku he almost got into a fistfight with in their first year, nor the one he piggybacked off the qualifiers court in their third year. 

He’ll be seeing Yaku in person tomorrow for the first time in four years. Kuroo has been trying not to think about it since Yaku sent his flight details in the group chat, burying himself in work to distract himself, but now that he’s here, sitting on his bed with Yaku’s voice gentle in his ear, it’s not like he can _stop_ thinking about it. 

His gaze drifts once more to the photo frame on his bedside table. It’s a photo of himself and Yaku, taken at the airport the day Yaku left for Russia. In that photo, 22-year-old Yaku is looking up at Kuroo, eyes crinkled, his mouth open in the middle of a laugh. 22-year-old Kuroo has one arm slung around Yaku’s shoulders, brandishing a penguin-hood travel pillow in his other hand.

In these four years, how has Yaku changed? Will he be taller, shoulders broader and arms more bruised than when he left? 

And in Yaku’s eyes, how will Kuroo have changed?

“Kuroo?” Yaku’s voice says, even softer this time. “Did you fall asleep? Sorry, I know it’s late there and you probably had a long day at work—”

But surely, there are things that haven’t changed, either. The worry he can hear is familiar, like a long-treasured sweater rediscovered in the corner of a closet. The way that Yaku drawls his name, Kuroo recognises as a relic from when he was just as subject to Yaku’s exasperation as Taketora and Lev were.

“I’m here,” Kuroo says. “You touch down in the afternoon, right?” 

“Yeah, slightly after lunch. I’m planning to drop by Shibuya before I head over to Kenma’s.”

“Why Shibuya— _oh_ ,” Kuroo snorts. The latest billboard campaign featuring the Haiba siblings. Throughout the two years since Lev started modelling, Yaku has complained about being in Russia and not being able to laugh at it in person every time anyone sends an ad featuring him in the group chat. “I’m taking half the day off, so I end work around 3. Want me to swing by and pick you up?”

“Wow, someone’s showing off his car,” Yaku says. Kuroo can hear the unimpressed arch of his eyebrows. 

“Like I told you, it’s sponsored by the company. They don’t even pay for my fuel!”

“How generous of you, Mister Kuroo,” Yaku teases. “Going out of your way to pick up an old friend in your company-sponsored car and racking up high fuel costs along the way.”

“I’m taking it back,” Kuroo threatens, pulling a face even though Yaku can’t see him. “Offer retracted. Zero. Nada. Zilch. You can lug your suitcase all the way to Kenma’s place yourself.”

That pulls another snort of laughter from Yaku. “Fine, fine. I’ll wait around for you somewhere where I have Wi-fi.”

“It’s strawberry latte season at Tully’s,” Kuroo says. “They just brought it back last week.”

“Really?” Yaku says, audibly perking up. “It’s been ages since I had that. I’m surprised you still remember.”

“It’s hard to forget when you were drinking it almost every other week after graduation.”

“Oh, shut it.”

There’s a short silence, and Kuroo yawns, unable to help himself. A glance at the clock tells him it’s half past midnight — have they really been talking for so long? He hadn’t even noticed. 

Almost as though he’s read Kuroo’s mind, Yaku says, “You should get to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Kuroo says. “Fly safe, Yakkun.”

“I’m not the pilot.”

“You’re ruining the moment!” 

“I’m just stating a fact.”

A beat passes, and as if right on cue, both of them burst out into laughter. “I can’t believe we’re in our mid-twenties and still arguing like this,” Yaku says. 

“Really takes you back, doesn’t it? In a few weeks it’ll be eleven years since we first met.”

“You don’t have to make us sound so old!” 

“Age is all a matter of perspective.”

“At this rate you’re never going to bed, are you?”

“Unfortunately, I need to. Gotta finish my work early so I can drive my company-sponsored car to Shibuya and pick up my old teammate on time, you know?”

“Kuroo… It’s really alright if you don’t—”

“I’m joking,” Kuroo says fondly. “You don’t need to sound so troubled. Drop me a message once you touch down?”

“Fine,” Yaku says. “Goodnight.” A pause. “...See you tomorrow.”

It’s the first time in four years that he’s heard those words from Yaku. Kuroo takes a deep breath.

“I can’t wait to see you, Yakkun.” 

There’s silence for a while, then a soft, “Yeah, me too.”

“Goodnight.”

Setting his phone down on his bedside table, Kuroo casts the photo frame another long lingering look, then gets up to switch off the bedroom light. Yaku will be home soon. 

Kuroo can’t wait.

**Author's Note:**

> I FINALLY GET TO WRITE TIMESKIP KUROYAKU!!! Shoutout to [nylie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nylie/pseuds/nylie) for ~~bouncing~~ screaming ideas and headcanons with me! 
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/rielavity) | [haikyuu writing journal](https://noyabeans.dreamwidth.org/)


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